estation, and
upon whom he will bestow his greatest wisdom, power and attractiveness.
The study of this mighty and imposing character can only be suggested in
the following pages.

The titles of Satan would indicate that he is attempting, also, in his
own person, to counterfeit the Persons of the blessed Trinity. He
appears as "the god of this world" in imitation of God the Father; he
appears as the "prince of the world" in imitation of God the Son; and
"the spirit that now energizeth in the children of disobedience" is his
imitation of God the Spirit, who dwells in and energizes the true
believers. Thus his desire to be like the Most High has led him to a
blasphemous attempt to imitate all the separate manifestations of the
three Persons of the Godhead. But, since redemption, which he proposes
to hinder, is the work of the second Person, God the Son, Satan more
often appears as a counterfeit of Christ, both in title and undertaking;
and this is the character in which he makes his last and most desperate
effort before he is banished to the pit and his final judgment is begun.

Chapter VIII.

The Man of Sin.

Reference has already been made to a period of tribulation yet to come
upon the earth. That period is referred to in Scripture by various
figures: "The great tribulation," "the time of Jacob's trouble," and "a
day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness." It
is also described as the culmination of the great apostasy which is
predicted for the end of this age and which is emphasized in the later
Epistles of the New Testament. These Epistles not only recognize a
complete apostasy yet to come in this age, but teach that the beginning
of that apostasy was apparent even then at the time when they were
written. This teaching of the apostles finds its natural culmination in
the last book of the Bible wherein the exact development of the apostasy
and the conditions to prevail in the tribulation are recorded at length.
All other references, both in the Old and the New Testaments, perfectly
agree with this extended description.

In reference to the time of the tribulation which is thus predicted,
Paul states in II Thes. 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for
that day ('the day of the Lord') shall not come, except there come a
falling away first, and that man of Sin be revealed, the son of
perdition," thus showing that the tribulation precedes the day of the
Lord; and in Rev. 19 that